This Crusty `Pie' Has Sweet Parts

Movies - Parent's guide

July 23, 1999|By ORANGE COUNTY (CALIF.) REGISTER

`AMERICAN PIE'

Rating: R (restricted).

Best for: Mature teens to adults who enjoy a coming-of-age comedy about teens losing their virginity.

What it's about: Four high school friends make a pact to lose their virginity by prom night. Along the way, each discovers some surprising qualities about himself and his views on romance, love, life and, of course, sex. Jason Biggs, Chris Klein, Eugene Levy, Thomas Ian Nicholas, Chris Owen, Seann W. Scott and Alyson Hannigan star.

The good: The talented cast delivers a comedy aimed at mature teens and twentysome- things who can laugh at the awkward and confusing emotions teenagers experience in relation to their sexual identity. The emphasis is on each boy and how he goes about getting a girlfriend, keeping the one he has or exploring his own sexuality. Various scenarios explore what a high school boy will do to convince a girl he cares for her. One of the healthier ``couples'' shows how friendship and respect can take precedence over using each other; this was the most satisfying scenario of all. The dialogue - boys discussing sex and their bodies, conversations between a father and son about sex - and the awkward and embarrassing situations - one boy joins a choral group to win a girl; another relieves himself mistakenly in the girls' restroom - make this a movie for mature teens and adults only.

The not-so-good: Sex is the main focus, and although it's seen in a humorous way, it is portrayed as if every teen wants or indulges in it. Masturbation is one of the issues explored, particularly with the character Jim, whose father catches him watching porn movies and discovers him having an intimate encounter with an apple pie. When a girl asks to study with him and needs to change clothes in his room, he links up his computer camera so his friends can watch - but unknowingly connects most of the school. He and his friends watch her strip, read his smut magazines and sexually satisfy herself. When Jim enters the room, she tries to engage him in sex. Oral sex is implied with one couple. One of the boys has sex - off-camera, on a pool table - with his friend's single mother after both get drunk at an after-prom party. But perhaps the biggest concern with a movie like this is that, not only is sex trivialized to the point that the movie suggests that it's all any high school kid does or thinks about, but abstinence is never mentioned or presented as an option.

Sex: No blatant or graphic sexual scenes; implied situations in underwear or under sheets. One scene shows upper female nudity. Prom night culminates with several sexual situations, but there's no nudity.

Violence: None.

Parental advisory: This is one of those movies older teens and twentysomethings will appreciate because they can relate to the senior mentality and the exaggerated sexual themes, but it's not for anyone under 17.